The change, which will be welcomed by many, came as no great surprise. It had been trailed in conferences and the Twittersphere since before the end of 2012. However in the last few days, many of their detractors and anti-cookie law activists have taken the opportunity to accuse them of a U-turn in policy.

This started even before the changes to the site were published, and several mis-leading articles and blogs went so far as to declare the cookie law is dead.

The reality is far from this. The law is still with us and has not changed. However, this development should and almost certainly will be welcomed by all responsible website owners who want nothing more than to ensure they are playing by the rules.

[…]

So what is the essence of their approach?

They have a prominent, first line banner notice that shows up for all visitors, telling them that cookies are being used.

This links through to a more detailed information page, where we get a categorised description of the different uses of cookies, along with a listing of the cookie IDs.

They then provide on-page functionality to refuse the acceptance of cookies, and block them for future visits.

The approach is simple, practical and straightforward. Pretty much any website copying this model should find itself safe from enforcement with minimal disruption to the user experience unless visitors are actively interested in engaging and controlling their privacy, as is their right.

The really good news is that all this functionality, and more, is available through the <NAME> website plug-in.

Any website wanting to comply can use <NAME> and be confident they are following the ICO’s model, for as little as £295 per year.

£300 per annum to solve a problem that wasn’t unsolvable even before Government got ahold of it. But yes, Richard (author of the post) has got a point. It’s still on the books, even if the enforcers are apparently not caring about the original intent of the legislation any more.

To return to a snippet of the infographic, I think Richard is pretty squarely in the white bit:

…and although I also believe that the law will slide into oblivion, I just don’t know when.

So until that time: caveat emptor and also beware of regulators trying to make a last stand.

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Dropsafe is the personal blog of Alec Muffett with occasional contributions from friends & occasional guest bloggers; it is therefore a blog populated entirely by the personal opinions of the author/s.
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